“Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve? A psychologist says he has discovered the answer.

Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck.

I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune.

I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.

Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and, over the years, I have interviewed them, monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments.

The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune.

Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities.

I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside.

I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: “Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win £250.”

This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high.

Anxiety

It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.

As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else.

They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends.

They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

Self-fulfilling prophecies

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.

My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles.

They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

Towards the end of the work, I wondered whether these principles could be used to create good luck.

I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person.

Dramatic results

These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck.

One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80% of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.

The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky.

Finally, I had found the elusive “luck factor” .

Here are Professor Wiseman’s four top tips for becoming lucky:

– Listen to your gut instincts – they are normally right

– Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine

– Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well

– Visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call. Luck is very often a self-fulfilling prophecy. ”

The Ace of Cups is one of my favorite tarot cards. And why not, its essence is about love, personal as well as universal, being in a happy flow and (unconditionally) magnetic to good. Things and issues just effortlessly flow together. May we all enjoy ease, grace, magic and synchronicity as the universe is always voting for our happiness, wellness and fulfillment.

Ace of Cups: Gerd Ziegler – Mirror of the Soul, Handbook for the Alisteir Crowley Tarot

The white lotus is the symbol for love of a giving nature. It forms the base of the cups, which is blue, color of the element Water. Vertically through the cup flows a brilliant energy beam, uniting Earth and Cosmos. The cup is the medium which makes itself available for the coming together of the above and below, inner and outer. The Ace of Cups is the feminine counterpart to the Ace of Wands; open, receptive, surrendering; bearing the transformatory power of giving love. The upper and lower portions of the painting embody the same quality, below in the emotional realm of water, above in the ethereal sphere of the spirit. As above, so below. That which is internally felt expresses itself externally clearly and openly. Emotional clarity results, emphasized in the painting by its balance and harmony.

The giving of love happens effortlessly. That which continually flows into us from the boundless abundance of the universe radiates outward again by itself, if we remain open and receptive. You can compare it with the flower which exudes its fragrance whether someone comes close to enjoy its perfume or not. This giving is not dependent on individual, perhaps close people. There is so much to share! All of existence can take part in it. Becoming one with the all-embracing, omnipresent love is such a silent ecstasy, a cosmic orgasm!

Indication: You are in contact with all-embracing love. It fills you and you can pass it on generously, lavishly, to others!

Question: What is your way of expressing love?

Suggestion: Let the card work on you for a while. Read the last two paragraphs of the description again, and close your eyes. Feel yourself as an open channel for the divine energy.

If you’ve ever been aware that you were in flow, you know how good that feels. We’re actually always in the flow, but the fact is we don’t always feel it or, rather, we’re not always aware of it. The “flow” is a stream of consciousness and energy that is always in motion, always evolving. It’s the All That Is that we are part of. We’re in the stream at all times, but it can feel as though we aren’t. Why is that? Since we’re always in the stream, we can only feel or believe that we aren’t, which means any perceived separation from the stream is just that: a perception, not a Truth. So, to be in flow is often, but not always, a conscious choice, and to be out of flow is always a subconscious choice (who would consciously choose to be out of the flow?). Whichever our choice, it then becomes our state of being and an experience.

I was contemplating what it means to be in flow and these words came to me: “You have to trust, to be in flow; and to be in flow, you have to trust.” The words clarified the process I’ve experienced: Each requires and results in the other. When you trust Source to act in your behalf and trust that all your needs are always and in all ways met, you’re in flow. When you’re in flow, you trust that Source always and in all ways meets your needs and acts in your behalf. And that trust leads you to feel serene, open, and receptive. But, of course, there’s more to this–there always is.

There are aspects of being in flow. One aspect is non-resistance to what-is. This doesn’t mean you have to like or “want” what-is; you just have to release your resistance about it. This includes anger, frustration, self-doubt, and trying to force your will on others and or the situation. Non-resistance does not mean you allow improper behavior or abuse or don’t do what you need to do to affect improvement. Non-resistance means that rather than wallowing in negativity, you find a way to get your awareness back in alignment with trust in Source, which puts you back into the flow so that right solutions come to you and or happen for you. Again, there is more to understand about this, which I’ll get to. Just know that release of resistance is a key that opens a door to a magical realm within you and in your life.

During one of my morning meditations, I looked at something I’d been saying: “It is Truth that my abundance, prosperity, and well-being are always and in all ways supplied by Source.” A realization caused me to adjust that statement to “It is Truth that my abundance, prosperity, and well-being are Source.” Many of us, despite what we know or practice, still tend to perceive Source as something separate from us, and that our abundance, prosperity, and well-being are also separate from us. But, this is not so. There is only Source. Everything in existence is Source. We are individualized expressions of Source. Just as we are always in the stream, everything and everyone we interact with is Source, which includes us. This is something to wrap your mind and understanding around. It may take a while.

Maybe you know how to get yourself–your awareness–into the flow and maybe you don’t. Maybe you’d like some tips on how to do this quicker and easier. There are some things to consider about this first, because the things to consider are also tips.

For example, what about when you ask or pray for something? Do you feel in flow at such times, or do you feel outside of it? One way to get into flow at such times is to understand that the ultimate prayer or request and the ultimate answer are the same, or should be–if you truly desire to be in flow: “Thank you for always and in all ways acting in and for my highest good and the highest good of all involved, and always in right timing.” For you to be fully on board with this and trust it, as your own practice, there’s something you need to understand: sometimes the answer may feel like it’s anything but the answer, until the moment you realize it is.

One personal example is this: I had a serious, debilitating experience going on for me and nothing I tried worked to shift it. After struggling with this for a Very Long Time, I finally realized I was addressing the situation through resistance, even though I believed I was trying to be constructive and productive in my attempts to affect a solution or resolution, also known as trying to control everything and everyone involved so I could feel better. So I said, “Source, I’m leaving my ego’s need to fix this the way it wants it fixed out of this and I’m turning this matter over to you, because, frankly, I don’t know what the hell to do about it. I trust you to act in and for my highest good and the highest good of all involved.” And, I meant it. I was flat-out frustrated, and I knew frustration was not the path that would get me where I wanted to be.

Well, a lot of shift had to hit the fan first. And, yes, there were many moments (days during a several-month period) when I was anything but serene. Then something happened: What was needed showed up, or, rather, unfolded, in its right timing. I soon realized how everything that had happened had been necessary, and how utterly brilliant it all was. There was no way I could ever have accomplished the inner and outer outcome on my own, and I really mean that. The design plan was flawless. Only a consciousness that had all the information could accomplish that outcome. What was needed was provided, even if it felt at times like I was in hell or at least purgatory while getting there.

I realize that not everyone thinks about these things the same way I do. For some, they perceive only what they see and never go deeper. I see beyond what appears evident (eventually, and because I look for it because I KNOW it’s there): I see the cosmic tapestry where all the threads contribute to the bigger picture, if you will. And sometimes what I perceive about events could or would make some people feel uncomfortable or even angry and absolutely ready to dispute my interpretation.

An example of this is a friend who had to say goodbye to her elderly, failing, beloved dog. That’s a heartache that only someone who’s been there can empathize with. About a year later, she and her husband had their first child, and the child, it turned out, was allergic to dogs. As painful as losing her dog had been, imagine the heartache that would have happened had she been forced to face the situation that could have arisen. Every living thing has its time and purpose. And, there is a higher-level communication between all things that is going on at all times that we are not consciously aware of, until we see the evidence of it, if we use our “eyes” to see it with. This kind of awareness is another form of being in flow, as are moments of intuition.

Another form of being in the flow is to realize the truth that “No man is an island.” Just as we often perceive Source and our good, our resources, as outside of us, we can also perceive ourselves and our resources as separate from others. The no-separation Truth ties in with another statement I make during my morning meditation: “Thank you for my ongoing unlimited increase in Mind, Wisdom, Mindfulness, Intuition, Serenity, Money, Energy, Creativity, Spiritual Realization, Well-Being, and (something private to me that also serves others as well as me).”

Each of the aspects I listed are obviously good things to have and experience, and perhaps you can see why anyone would want them to be part of their being and life. But one morning, the realization came to me that not only do these things serve and benefit me, but that they also allow me to serve and benefit others in ways appropriate for them and for me-and are meant to do so. No man is an island–ever–except in his own mind and or heart.

Suddenly, my statement had an entirely new texture and I had an entirely new understanding and feeling (realization) within me. To be in flow means we have to realize that it’s not a one-way street that flows into our life and stops there. This may seem obvious, but is it really integrated as your understanding and way of thinking, feeling, and being? Whatever we desire or need and receive and have is meant to flow to us, for us, and through us in some way, at some time, and in some measure. That awareness, that consciousness, that realization is another form of being in flow.

If you’ve had any level of struggle in your life, it’s possible that your primary focus has been on receiving; and you may have felt that as soon as you have extra to give or share, you’ll give or share it. Apply my list to this, as though it were your own, and see what comes up for you. Here’s the list again: ongoing unlimited increase in Mind, Wisdom, Mindfulness, Intuition, Serenity, Money, Energy, Creativity, Spiritual Realization, and Well-Being. Can you feel the benefit to you and to others, if these are your experiences? Can you perceive how life is richer for all involved when they overlap?

In times of struggle, appreciation is definitely a form of putting yourself back into the flow. Say money is a bit tight, but there are things you need to take care of that require money. Maybe a lump sum shows up for you or maybe various amounts show up at different times, and what you experience is each need being able to be met at the right time–maybe not ahead of time, as your ego aspect would prefer, but in the right timing. Any moment when you can genuinely appreciate how this is working out for you is a moment that puts you–through your awareness–back into the flow.

Being in the flow, where you receive what it is you desire and need is wonderful. But being in the flow where you understand the greater give-and-receive loop that feels so good is even better. It’s a higher level of being in flow. When we practice being in the flow, we truly do not have to seek what we need and want, it comes to us in expected, unexpected, and wonderful ways, and often with a promptness that is astonishing, as Dr. Ernest C. Wilson stated. It’s the ultimate way to work smarter, not harder. It’s a good practice, one you’ll appreciate.

You are welcome to use this article in your newsletter or on your blog/website as long as you use my complete bio with it.

Joyce L Shafer is a Life Empowerment Coach dedicated to helping people feel, be, and live their true inner power. She’s author of “I Don’t Want to be Your Guru” and other books/ebooks, and publishes a free weekly online newsletter that offers empowering articles. See all that’s offered by Joyce and on her site at http://stateofappreciation.weebly.com/guest-articles.html#.UPGKUB3BGSo

Like this:

“The archetype of the fool can connect us with a very important aspect of ourselves. It is the image of the innocent, childlike person who is not caught in the concepts and stereotypes of the rational, sophisticated mind and therefore is free to perceive and experience life directly as it really is, in the moment.”

“Everything in the physical world is made of energy, all vibrating at different rates of speed. Thought is a relatively fine, light form of energy and is quick and easy to change. Matter is relatively dense and compact energy, slower to move and change. All these energy fields are interconnected, so how we think and feel is constantly affecting and being affected by everything around us. We are all part of one great energy flow.”

“We all know in our hearts what our higher purpose is, but we do not often consciously acknowledge it. In fact, many of us seem to go to great lengths to hide it from ourselves and the world. We fear the power, responsibility, and light that comes with acknowledging and expressing our true purpose in life. Often we are afraid that our higher purpose means giving up everything that brings us comfort and love. In fact, our higher purpose and our greatest joy are always in perfect alignment.”

“The only effective way to use creative visualization is in the spirit of the Tao — going with the flow. That means that you don’t have to struggle to get where you want to go. You simply put out clearly to the universe where you would like to go, and then patiently and harmoniously follow the flow of the river of life until it takes you there or somewhere even better.”

“There is a universal, intelligent, life force that exists within everyone and everything. It resides within each one of use as a deep wisdom, an inner knowing. We can access this wonderful source of knowledge and wisdom through our intuition, an inner sense that tells us what feels right and true for us at any given moment.”

“Your intuition will tell you where you need to go; it will connect you with people you should meet; it will guide you toward work that is meaningful for you – work that brings you joy, work that feels right for you.”

“Every time you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.”

“Our bodies communicate to us clearly and specifically, if we are willing to listen to them.”

“By living as channels for the universe, I believe that we can slow and transform the aging process as we know it. I think it is possible to become more vital, energetic, and beautiful as we get older, rather than less so. So let go of the old rules, and the old limitations and begin to experience day to day the wonder of a limitless life, a limitless world, a limitless universe.”

“Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow– it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it”

“You create your opportunities by asking for them.”

“Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level. We need to literally ‘count our blessings,’ give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.”

“As you learn to be true to yourself, you will find that you attract people, work, and other circumstances that reflect your evolution and development.”

Instead of just posting an affirmation today, I began musing on the subject and how to use positivity in general. I wanted to share with you, that I always post affirmations and the kind in this blog remembering that there are different levels of distress, and also people who might be dealing with deep traumas and such, when deeper going tools are required. In other words, I never mean to belittle anyone´s challenges, which is a negative use of positivity.

Acceptance of all of our feelings and emotions and negative thoughts is so important, I´d like to put that sentence in every posting of mine. Emotions – although many of them are more or less unconscious projections etc (= about transferring past energies that are not really there to todays issues, and so on) – may also tell us where our healthy boundaries are, where we need to say “no” for example. And then, after having accepted the negative thoughts and emotions, the suggestion continues to bring in the positive ones alongside them. It is not good to push positive thoughts on by force, like “smile though your heart is breaking and head is aching”. Sometimes the first thing of any self healing and growth is to notice in what kind of energy we are reflecting on and couching ourselves in the first place. And from the deepest distress, the darkest cellar, we might need to come back enough for affirmations, and such, to work. Sometimes a hug, even from ourselves, is more relevant than any words.

So, if manifesting tools, for example, don´t seem to be working there might be layers beyond the surface to be healed. (Many books of manifesting stay on the surface level only, and sometimes as if there aren´t any other layers. We are also individuals, so that what might work for the other one´s psyche, might not work for the other.) If not seeing the layers, we might for example just make another conditioning out of positivity, which says: “I can have positive things in my life only if I am positive, and if I´m negative I can´t have them”. Then it just continues the underlying conditioning, that tells: “I´m only worthy, if… ” instead of: “I´m am always worthy just as I am.” That is why I use the idea of unconditionalflow, for the love of the universe is unconditional and love and acceptance heal.

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About My Poems

My poems (https://soulfields.wordpress.com/tag/my-poems/) are not meant to be a diary as such. Nor do I necessarily write about things in linear/chronological order, but of those themes I am drawn to at each moment. Thank you for having been so supportive of them, though English is not my native language and there might be language errors. I write these poems because of the fun of it and am happy that there are people who can resonate with them.

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Mystic Star

Mystic Star (seven pointed star, heptagram) is the symbol of my life purpose. What is yours, wanna play? Photo: Hazelton Art Works